Create opportunity

Flinders is opening the doors to opportunity for all. From the advancement of Indigenous peoples, through to scholarships supporting students in financial hardship.

With your help we can increase the number of scholarships available to our students, providing them with confidence and encouragement, keeping them motivated and helping them remain focused on their end goal.

Palaeontology Scholarship

In celebration of the launch of Australia’s only palaeontology degree and the 30-year anniversary of palaeontology at Flinders University, we are excited to unveil the Flinders Palaeontology Scholarship. This will assist a rural student in financial need with the cost of relocating and enable them to take up their dream degree.

The new Bachelor of Science (Palaeontology) provides students with in-depth knowledge and appreciation of the Australian fossil record, and a broad-based foundation in the scientific principles underpinning palaeontology and allied disciplines. Our students emerge with a deep understanding of life on our planet, particularly for Australian vertebrates and their environment.

Environmentalist and global-warming activist Professor Tim Flannery, has described the Flinders Palaeontology team and facilities as “without a doubt the most important in the nation." You can give a student the opportunity to join this unique and immersive learning environment by making a donation today.

Flinders is thrilled to be partnering with The Flinders University Palaeontology Society (FUPS), a unique student-run group of like-minded fossil enthusiasts, to support this initiative. Society members and students travel far and wide to unearth our past; today we invite you to join with them to create an opportunity to change someone’s future.

Honours student, Nathan Brown, BSc ‘18, Dr Aaron Camens, BSc(Hons) ‘05, and Amy Tschirn, BSc(Hons) ’16, taking field notes on a stratigraphic section through the Namba Formation, at the Oligo-Miocene Lake Pinpa site in central South Australia, April 2018.

Support students through scholarships

Scholarships are part of Flinders’ commitment to rewarding academic excellence, supporting research and enabling students from all backgrounds to realise their educational goals. We believe in providing a world of opportunity for all people, regardless of their background and experiences. With your help we can increase the number of scholarships available to our high quality students and help them achieve their full potential, now and into the future.

Create Indigenous pathways

Flinders has embedded, as one of its core values, an unwavering commitment to cultural inclusivity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We believe in participation at every level of our study, work and research. We are committed to working in partnership with Indigenous communities to increase Indigenous student participation in higher education, tackle the diversity of our workforce, and learn to connect with our country’s past, present and future.

Provide access for rural and remote students

When deciding on a pathway towards a career, many from rural and remote areas in Australia face a unique set of challenges that can severely limit the choices available to them. Flinders has a long history of offering support where people are disadvantaged by their distance. The Rural Student Scholarship Fund has historically been at the heart of our alumni funded scholarship program.

In 2017 the fund has been re-established and the Scholarship reinvigorated in recognition of the continued support Flinders receives for this important area from our alumni and friends. Like you, we also believe there is a need that will not just benefit students and the University but will strengthen our rural communities. The ability of people from rural areas to have access to higher education is integral in creating greater equity for all Australians.

Assist women through their educational journey

For over 20 years this scholarship has made an impact on the lives of many women who commenced their university careers later in life and has assisted them to finish their degrees, enter the workforce and achieve their goals.

Jessie Mary Cooper (1914 – 1993) was the first woman Member of the Legislative Council in South Australia, and a Founding Council Member of Flinders University.

The scholarship named in her honour was established in 1994, marking 100 years of women’s suffrage, by the then Flinders Alumni Association and recognised a growing concern of retention rates of women in their final year of study. The scholarship was previously known as the Jessie Cooper Study Grants for Mature Entry Women.

We aim to continue the legacy of the many alumni and friends who have generously supported this scholarship over the years. The rules have been updated in 2017 to reflect the changing times but the spirit of advancing educational accessibility, overcoming challenges and promoting equal opportunity remains the same.